My peony

Peonies are my absolute favourite flowers. There is no way I could grow one in Brisbane, but I have a crimson peony in a pot on my balcony in Bagni di Lucca. In winter I take the pot to the garden of my friend Rina, where it is more sheltered. As soon as the weather warmed up in spring I brought it home to watch it grow.

the first shoots

back home on the balcony

A few days on and the progress is amazing.

growing

the duck keeps an eye on them – sometimes

While we were away in Spain the plant grew like crazy.

after 2 weeks in Spain

The buds appeared a week later.

baby peonies

I can’t wait

A week later and the buds are growing.

flower buds

almost a peonie

At about this stage it stalled and didn’t seem to go anywhere for ages. Ants attacked the flower buds and I blasted them with pest spray.

still a bud

ants attack the peony

One of the flowers finally opened the day before I left Bagni di Lucca. It wasn’t as good as usual, but it wasn’t too bad. I wonder if the others will open.

finally it opened

isn’t it lovely?

better late than never

I’ll have to read up on peonies before next spring. The flowers on other bushes were the size of dinner plates, so I must be doing something wrong. Any suggestions out there?

March 2019. This peony now lives at our mountain house, Casa Debbio. It is thriving! The first year after its move about 6 years ago it grew, but produced no flowers. The next year there were a few. Last spring it gave us about 60 blooms! It my favourite peony out of the 65 growing in the garden.

Fascinating to see in sequence how the red shoots transform into a green plant producing a beautiful crimson peony. Yes, they are truly striking flowers. Your photos capture beautifully the growth stages including the ants! I will always remember a field of white peonies growing wild in Ft Wayne years ago, an indelible memory for me along with admiring the dogwood and lilac trees during the American Spring. May your dream come true to produce a peony the size of a dinner plate :))

Firstly what a wonderful photo study! I love the peony too and just relived all those magic moments sharing in the development of yours!

Probably being in a pot makes the plant offer you smaller flowers. I have read that peonies don’t like being disturbed, but it might be worth repotting into a bigger pot at some point. My white peonie is just coming out now, my early pink ones have finished. The ants don’t seem to do any harm, they don’t bring aphids on to the peonies in my garden, though they bring loads on to the cardoons and artichokes (grrr). There is one called Molly the Witch which I want to grow one day. Lovely article about it here http://preview.tinyurl.com/3hzjwe7

Thank you for your kind comments – and helpful suggestions. I will repot the peony before next spring. I would expect smaller flowers in a pot, but it seemed to be doing so well, then it sort of faded.

I love peonies too – just very occasionally you can buy them in Brisbane – bit like hens’ teeth though. That funny pouty little bud was just playing coy and then it really flounces and shows off doesn’t it.

Oh Deb these are my absolute favourite flowers too!! We can get them in Sydney for about 2 weeks in early spring from the Blue Mountains, probably the only place cold enough for them to grow, that is actually close to Sydney! How lucky you were to see at least one of them flower for you before you left! I didn’t know you could fit so many in a pot!! Thanks for sharing, Deb